Earlier this week, Economic Times reported that Flipkart-owned Myntra is testing a new live commerce model, which involves experts and influencers holding live video sessions on the platform and allowing customers to add products to the cart as and when they are shown in the videos. "For example, an influencer in the beauty and personal care space would be demonstrating certain makeup hacks and products she/he uses, and the products being used by the expert would be available on the screen to be bought," ET said. Along with doing live tutorials, influencers will answer the queries of customers and even offer limited-time discounts to encourage customers to buy live. But if Myntra launches this new feature, will the e-commerce platform be considered a social media intermediary, and will it have to abide by the IT Rules? What do the IT Rules say? According to IT Rules notified in February this year, a social media intermediary is defined as: an intermediary which primarily or solely enables online interaction between two or more users and allows them to create, upload, share, disseminate, modify or access information using its services. Going by this definition, Myntra fits the bill because its live commerce feature enables the "online interaction" between influencers and customers. "This definition is exhaustive and would cover not only the influencers who are disseminating the information but would also include viewers and sellers who are viewing, sharing, or downloading such information," Soayib Qureshi, Associate Partner at PSL Advocates & Solicitors, told MediaNama. Furthermore, Myntra, which…
